Gleam [Karma Cultivator Isekai] - Chapter 69: Rescue mission

Chance had done a number of fairly stupid things in life. Drinking milk that had been left out in the sun for a day. Eating novelty green bread that just turned out to have a solid crust of mold around it. Agreeing to get hit by a magical truck in exchange for a new shot at life.

He was pretty sure none of that was quite as stupid as charging down a hill toward a camp full of bloodthirsty bandits, glowing with golden light like the world’s most flamboyant meteor.

Well, if I’m going to be stupid, I might as well go all out.

Chance let out a loud whoop as the ground flew beneath his feet in a blur. He’d covered ground so quickly that the shadowy forms of the bandits were now very real in front of him, their grizzled faces illuminated by the dancing torchlight.

They spun toward him, surprise filling their eyes. Several men called out, drawing swords and crossbows. Chance channeled his Essence, flooding his veins with chilly energy. His Gate burned like a furnace in his chest, and his urumi leapt to his hand of its own accord.

“Who in the hells are you?” A man asked, pointing his sword at Chance.

Another man clearly wasn’t as willing to wait. A twang was the only warning that Chance got before an arrow streaked through the air for his chest. He twisted to the side, leaning back in the same motion. The arrow sailed above his chest and thunked into the hill behind him.

“I’m Chance. Nice to meet you,” Chance replied, straightening back up. “I’m going to have to politely ask you to release the prisoners you’ve got.”

The bandit’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t think so, boy. You should be at home, suckin on ‘er mama’s tit, not fighting men. I’ll give you once chance to turn tail and run.”

Chance sighed. He leaned to the side and another arrow streaked past him. “That’s not much opportunity to leave, even if I wanted to. You’ve already shot at me twice. Also, you can’t give me a chance. I am Chance. Easy mistake to make, I know.”

Despite his confident front, sweat trickled down Chance’s back. If an arrow caught him in the throat, there wasn’t anyone to feed him a healing pill. He’d left the case of pills at the top of the hill, but he’d packed a healing pills in his pockets just in case. That wouldn’t do much for an instantly fatal blow, though.

I just need to buy Bella enough time to get the prisoners out of camp. The I can keep their attention, the better.

“Last warning,” the man repeated, twirling the sword in his hands.

“I don’t think you understand what warnings are,” Chance replied. Another arrow leapt at him. He darted forward, twirling out of the projectiles way and flicking his urumi. The segmented sword split apart with a melodic note. It whipped through the air and carved through the bowman’s hands.

The bandit screamed, stumbling backward as blood sprayed from his wrists. Chance shoved the sound out of his mind, focusing entirely on the fight. There would be time to think about the consequences of his actions later.

Another arrow screamed past his head harmlessly. The sword wielding bandit charged Chance with a roar, spittle spraying from his lips as he lunged forward. A tendril of golden energy brushed across him as he grew close, but it failed to take hold on his body.

Chance yanked his urumi back, deflecting the man’s blow and tottering to the side. He tripped, dodging a sweeping strike aimed for his head, and shoved his shoulder into his opponent’s chest.

The bandit grunted and took a step back to steady himself. Chance thrust his palm into the man’s chin, snapping his head back before striking him across the temple with the hilt of his urumi.

Instead of falling like Chance had expected, the bandit rolled with the blow and came back to his feet. A small trickle of blood ran down the side of the face where he’d been struck, but it didn’t look nearly as serious as it should have been.

“You’re a cultivator?” Chance asked.

“What, did you think you were the only one?”

The man lunged. Wind whipped around him in a gale of white streaks, forcing Chance to roll out of the way as the grass where he’d been standing was torn to shreds. He sent his urumi hurtling toward the bandit, but the man deflected it with the flat side of his sword.

Chance yanked his hand to the side and the urumi twisted like a snake as it retracted. Its flailing tip caught the bandit on the back as it slithered back to Chance, spraying blood across the ground.

Taking advantage of the bandit’s distraction, Chance directed his Essence to his forehead and opened his third eye. The man lit up with golden threads of Karma that stretched off in every direction. Many of them ran throughout the bandit camp, which wasn’t all that surprising.

Several blades of wind screamed toward Chance and he lurched to the side again, narrowly dodging them once more. The bandit lunged and Chance rolled backward. His urumi flashed as he shot back to his feet, carving through one of the strands of Karma hanging in the air.

Strength filled Chance’s muscles and he instantly felt lighter on his feet. The thread had belonged to another person, but its benefits were vaguely similar to those that Soothounds gave him. They were just significantly weaker and more balanced between strength and speed.

The bandit charged Chance, and he darted forward to meet the attack. Metal rang on metal as their battle intensified. Empowered by the power from the Karmic debts, Chance slowly started to gain an advantage.

His unpredictable attacks slowly whittled down the bandit’s defenses as cuts started to accumulate on the man. Judging by the infuriated scowl on the bandit’s face, his inability to strike Chance with anything he did was getting to him.

Chance alternated between bobbing and stumbling over himself like a drunkard. Several other bandits tried to join the fight, but Chance’s lashing urumi was like an impenetrable wall. They either backed down or were forced to in sprays of blood.

Several men sat on the sidelines, shooting arrows at Chance. They gave that up pretty quickly when Chance managed to slip beneath his opponent’s legs, shoving him into the path of one of the arrows meant for him on the way up.

The fight grew more and more intense. Chance’s heart thundered in his chest, but he kept his focus on his fighting style and keeping ahead of the bandit. Even the slightest mistake could spell the end, but as long as he could stay ahead –

His urumi carved into the man’s neck, severing his head with a single, clean blow. It retracked with a snick and the man’s head rolled back a moment before his body pitched forward and crashed into the grass.

Chance went through two more forms before he realized that his opponent was dead. He skidded to a stop. One of the bandits that had been shooting at him slowly let his weapon drop to the ground. He turned and sprinted away, screaming for help. The others broke as well, leaving Chance with the man’s corpse.

“Some comrades those were,” Chance muttered. The dead bandit’s eyes stared up at him, accusing. He didn’t even know the man’s name. Chance swallowed, pushing down the bile that burned the back of his throat.

He knelt beside the man and gently picked his head up by the hair, moving it back over to the bleeding stump of his neck. Chance put it back in place, then grimaced.

“Okay, that’s way worse. Sorry.” He closed the man’s eyes with a hand and stood back up. The rest of the camp was in chaos, bandits either screaming or running for the road. Evidently loyalty wasn’t one of their strengths.

After a moment, Chance shuffled through the man’s clothes. He found several pouches and a leather necklace with a pendant of a gold coin hanging from it. Feeling slightly guilty, Chance tucked everything into his pockets. He’d put it to good use.

Chance walked into he camp, searching for Bella. The chaos had been brutal but efficient – even though it had been only a few minutes since the fight started, the camp was nearly completely abandoned. All that remained were a few panicked bandits grabbing the last of their belongings. When they saw Chance, they dashed for the road as quickly as their feet would carry them. He didn’t bother chasing. Hopefully they’d choose a more beneficial career path in the future.

“Bella?” Chance called, looking around the deserted camp. He stepped past a smoldering campfire and reached the site of the large log. Several snapped chains hung from it, no trace of any of the prisoners that had been there.

“Over here,” Bella’s voice came from the back of the camp.

Chance let out a relieved breath and jogged in her direction. He found her standing with a group of men and women near several ruined tents. He slowed to a walk as he approached them. They weren’t anything like the prisoners he’d been expecting.

Instead of a bunch of malnourished people kidnapped from a nearby village, they were all covered with muscle. The men had grizzled beards and didn’t look perturbed by the slightest by the fighting, and the women looked just as vicious – if not more.

Chance cleared his throat.

I guess everyone’s just tougher outside of Gleam. You have to be to survive.

“Did it go okay?” he asked.

Bella nodded. “Yeah. Everyone got out safely. You apparently got the camp leader’s attention, so it wasn’t too difficult to get everyone to safety.”

“We’re indebted to you,” one of the larger men said. He pressed his hand to his chest, making a circle with his fingers. “We won’t forget your kindness. It’s been years since I’ve seen cultivators as young as you two. I’m honored that you would come to our defense.”

“It’s what anyone would have done,” Chance said, smiling at them. “I’m glad everyone’s okay. Does anyone have injuries that need to be treated urgently?”

“Nothing serious,” the large man said. “My name is Brent.”

“Chance.”

“Bella. What village did you come from, Brent? If it’s on the way, we could probably escort you all back to safety.”

Brent blinked, then burst into laughter. “Too kind, lass. There’s no need, though. You’ve just dealt with our main problem. There aren’t too many others in this stretch of the woods. And we aren’t from a village.”

“Where are you from?” Chance asked, blinking.

“We’re members of the Redhands,” a woman beside Brent said, rubbing her wrists where rope had chafed them. “The Windwalkers attacked us when our boss was out on business, but we’ll let him know exactly what happened here. I bet he’ll give you some kind of reward.”

Chance opened his mouth. Then he closed it again.

“Ah… just to confirm, the Windwalkers were the bandits that we just killed?”

Brent nodded. He clapped Chance on the shoulder. “As Gabby said, we’re in your debt – and the Redhand bandits never forget a debt.”

Chance exchanged a glance with Bella, but neither of them needed to speak. They were both thinking the exact same thing.

Well, shit.